Currently, households consume about 73 per cent of all water used in greater Sydney. This demand is being met by the combined storage, desalination, water recycling and distribution capacity held by Sydney Catchment Authority, Sydney Desalination Pty Ltd and Sydney Water Corporation.
Sydney Water Corporation (Sydney Water) is the largest water utility in Australia. It has responsibility for distribution, retailing and wastewater services throughout an area covering greater Sydney and the Illawarra. Dams and some other assets are under the control of Water NSW, the newly created agency for bulk water management, formerly State Water. Sydney Water also owns and operates a stormwater network in some parts of the city, though this service is generally the responsibility of local councils.
Sydney Water currently supplies approximately 1.4 billion litres of potable water to its customers daily, with water treated at nine water treatment plants and supplied through a network of more than 21,000 km of water pipes, 251 reservoirs and 164 pumping stations. The city's largest water filtration plant is the Prospect Water Filtration Plant, which supplies approximately 80 per cent of Sydney's potable water. The Prospect plant is owned and operated privately. Sydney Water is also responsible for collecting and treating wastewater, with over 1.3 billion litres of wastewater treated daily through its network of 24,000 km of wastewater pipes, 680 pumping stations, 14 water recycling plants and 16 treatment plants. Three of the treatment plants - Fairfield, Bellambi and Port Kembla - are wet weather plants, used only during major storms. Sydney Water also provides stormwater services to about 525,000 properties through 442 km of stormwater channels and pipes, mainly in south and south-west Sydney.
Water efficiency programs and increased recycling initiatives in greater Sydney reduced demand from 506 litres per person per day in 1990-91 to 314 litres per person per day in 2009-10. The region reused about 33 billion litres of recycled water in 2009-10 for applications including industry, irrigation and agriculture as well as for flushing toilets, watering gardens, washing cars and other outdoor uses.
The key drivers of future water demand in greater Sydney continue to be population growth, land use development and the cost of provision. A review of the 2010 Metropolitan Water Plan is under way, with an updated plan due to be released in 2015. The State Infrastructure Strategy Update 2014 observed:
The metropolitan urban areas in Sydney, Illawarra, the Central Coast and Newcastle in the Lower Hunter are in reasonable shape due to a decade of intensive capital investment coupled with the success of demand management programs during an earlier period of prolonged drought. Long-term planning for these areas is on track and the metropolitan water utilities are self-funding and continue to comply with their operating licences.
The 2010 Metropolitan Water Plan concluded at the time that, under all modelled rainfall and dam scenarios, provisions in the plan would secure greater Sydney's supply through to 2025. The Plan included proposals for 70 GL of water to be saved through recycling schemes and a further 145 GL to be saved through water use efficiency measures. Beyond 2025, the Plan proposed a doubling in desalination capacity to 180 GL, to respond to drought and/or further population growth. These plans are currently subject to further adjustment under the review of the Plan to be released in 2015.